Patty Griffin
Children Running Through

Patty Griffin issued her debut (Living with Ghosts) in 1996; since
then she’s received a lot of attention from the music industry. Her songs have
been covered by everyone from the Dixie Chicks to Jessica Simpson to Emmylou
Harris, and she was nominated for a Grammy award for her 2002 endeavor 1000
Kisses. Critics, too, have fawned all over her work, but save for a small
but devoted following, she has yet to crack the mainstream market. While her
latest outing Children Running Through isn’t likely to leap to the top of
Billboard’s sales chart, it is a more accessible collection, largely
because Griffin toned down her cerebral inclinations in favor of more
perceptibly passionate arrangements. Rather than lowering her remarkably high
standards, however, she found a way of glimpsing her compositions from a new
perspective. To those who have been paying attention, the effect is rather
dramatic.

Instead of focusing upon her complex narratives, Griffin and co-producer Mike
McCarthy took a more impressionistic approach, one that does a better job of
conveying the fertile emotional content of her material. Forsaking character
sketches in favor of snapshots, they placed less emphasis upon the words that
Griffin is singing, opting instead to accentuate the manner in which she
delivers them. Throughout Children Running Through, her blues-y vocals
are placed front and center. They rise and fall in a dynamic fashion, powering
the hard-charging, angst-filled determination of Getting Ready; filling
with a bittersweet soulfulness the spaces between You’ll Remember’s
sparse, rhythmic backing; and bathing the gentle R&B of Heavenly Day in
rays of brilliant sunshine. On Trapeze, an early highlight, she is joined
by Emmylou Harris, and with their voices intertwined, the duo unlocks the tale’s
haunted beauty. Elsewhere, her Bonnie Raitt-style growl is complemented — even
spurred — by Stay on the Ride’s atmospheric arrangement of gritty
saxophones and urban, street corner percussion, while Someone Else’s Tomorrow
finds her captivatingly capturing the passage of time as her voice becomes a
beacon of optimism that shines through the surrounding gray of winter.

Unfortunately, Griffin falters slightly during the latter third of
Children Running Through. As good as it is, Up to the Mountain (MLK Song)
lacks the overwhelming power of the rendition that appeared on Solomon Burke’s
Nashville, and as the pace of the outing slows down, the distinctiveness
of its tracks begins to dissipate. Regardless, Griffin’s willingness to
rearrange her past in order to better position herself for the future is
admirable. As it turns out, the payoff is big, and the result is that
Children Running Through is the most immediately gratifying (but no less
poignant) outing that Patty Griffin has ever made. ½

Children Running Through is available from
Barnes & Noble. To order, Click Here!